THE Port Harcourt Refinery has again failed to come on-stream despite a firm promise by the Nigerian government and the  Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), that it would start operations in early August following several postponements 

This development  has kept Nigerians perpetually waiting and wondering what the NNPCL means by “technical completion.”

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, had on Thursday, December 21, 2023, during a tour of the Port Harcourt refinery said it was technically completed.

“Just to announce to Nigerians the fulfilment of our pledge to bring on stream phase one of the Port Harcourt refinery by the end of 2023 and the subsequent streaming of phase two in 2024. We happily announced the mechanical completion and the flare start-off on the 20th of December 2023,” Lokpobiri said in a statement signed by the NNPCL.

The Port Harcourt Refineries comprise two units, with the old plant having a refining capacity of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) and the new plant 150,000 bpd, summing up to 210,000 bpd.

According to projectdefinition.com,  mechanical completion is defined as the final phase of construction activities to verify the completeness of the constructed plant that each installed component conforms to or is fabricated, installed, and tested by the project specifications and procedures after all mechanical works, including pre-commissioning (PC) activities, are completed.

In its latest promise on Monday, July 15 at the Senate finance committee hearing, the NNPCL group chief executive officer (GCEO), Mele Kyari, said the Port Harcourt Refinery would begin operations in early August.

According to him, with the Port Harcourt starting production by early August and Warri and Kaduna refineries coming on stream towards the year-end, Nigeria will become a net exporter of petroleum products by December.

He further asserted that in a few months, the oil production level for the country would hit two million barrels per day (bpd) as measures have been put in place.

“Specific to NNPCL Refineries, we have spoken to a number of your committees, that it is impossible to have the Kaduna refinery come to operation before December, it will get to December, both Warri and Kaduna; but that of Port Harcourt will commence production early August this year,” Kyari told the committee.

However, August is mid-way through, and the Port Harcourt refinery has yet to start operation as the Nigerian government keeps pumping taxpayers’ monies into the refinery without results.

The Port Harcourt Refinery has witnessed years of moribund activities, but in March 2021, the federal government, under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery.

Since then, the hope that the refinery will start operation is yet to be actualised, despite several promises of timely completion of NNPCL.

The ICIR can report that the NNPC has repeatedly reneged on its firm promise that the Port Harcourt refinery would commence operations after claiming technical completion in December 2023.

In January, the NNPC said the Port Harcourt Refinery was being tested and would be ready by the end of that month.

When, in February, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited completed the supply of 475,000 barrels of crude oil to the Port Harcourt Refinery, it raised the hope of oil marketers, yet it did not start.

In mid-March, be NNPCL boss said the Port Harcourt refinery would commence operations in April.

While the April deadline elapsed, the independent petroleum marketers reportedly said the facility would begin production by the end of July, all to no avail.